


foxes and thorns

by Silver_Snek



Series: Snek's Star 'Verse [6]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Clone Troopers (Star Wars), CC-1010 | Fox & Clone Commander Thorn Friendship, CC-1010 | Fox Needs A Hug, Clone Trooper Culture (Star Wars), Clone Trooper Decommissioning (Star Wars), Clone Trooper Inhibitor Chips (Star Wars), Clone Trooper Reconditioning (Star Wars), Force-Sensitive Clone Troopers (Star Wars), Found Family, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Touch-Starved Clone Troopers (Star Wars), Trans Clone Troopers (Star Wars), more tags as i merrily go along
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:35:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26941513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silver_Snek/pseuds/Silver_Snek
Summary: CC-1010, more commonly known as Fox, was completely aware of the fact that he was a mess. A competent, efficient mess, but a mess. He's haunted by memories of a past he wanted to leave behind on Kamino and Geonosis, but he'll make it through. He always had before, after all.And yet as the weight of the Coruscant Guard bears down on him, the deaths of so many vode stalk him in his nightmares, and the massive expectations as Commander and of the Senate threaten to make him collapse, he's not alone. There's no Fox without Thorn, no Thorn without Fox; they're family, and they'll stick together through everything.Even if that "everything" includes annoying Jedi, a corrupt Senate, a wave of anti-clone revolts, and heaps of traumatic experiences.
Relationships: CC-1010 | Fox & CC-4477 | Thire, CC-1010 | Fox & CC-5869 | Stone, CC-1010 | Fox & Clone Commander Thorn, CC-1010 | Fox & Original Clone Trooper Character(s), CC-1010 | Fox & Quinlan Vos, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Series: Snek's Star 'Verse [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1907557
Comments: 6
Kudos: 43
Collections: Commander Fox





	foxes and thorns

**Author's Note:**

> A few things to note before we get started!  
> 1.) Fox is a Marshal Commander in this, because he is the commander of a bunch of other commanders, so it would make sense if he was a rank above them.  
> 2.) I use plenty of OCs! There aren't enough Guard clones, and even some non-Guard OCs are sprinkled around. I got them from a discord I will link later on, along with complete bios of the OCs and who made them.  
> 3.) Real squads are typically about ten people, and since clones are grown in squads, the Bitch Batch has/had ten members, in order of age being Fox, Cody, Skipper, CC-1022, Ponds, Bly, Orion, Doubles, Andromeda, and then Wolffe.   
> 4.) I will be using the first scenes of a chapter to explain part of Fox's past, usually from his perspective, without having massive dialogues about it between characters in "present day".  
> Enjoy the first chapter of Foxes and Thorns!

_ Six years earlier…  _

“Fox, wait up!”

“Nope!” Clone cadet CC-1010 sprinted ahead of CC-2224 with a wild grin on his face. “You’re gonna have to catch me, baby batcher!”

“I’m the  _ oldest _ !”

From off to the side where they were spectating, Alpha-13, Alpha-22, and Alpha-17 simultaneously snorted to themselves. Seventeen rolled his eyes, his entire body exaggerating the motion as he called, “Fox was decanted first, Kote, you came ten minutes after!”

“He is  _ not _ older than me!”

Fox slowed slightly, letting Kote catch up with him before sweeping out a foot and tripping the other cadet. He stuck his tongue out at Kote, offering a casual salute as he once again rocketed ahead. Kote was the strongest, being only five and still able to tackle training droids, but Fox was the fastest. Only CC-4118 could keep up with him!

CC-6751 was waiting on the other side of the threshold as Fox crossed it and staggered into the light drizzle that so often came down on Kamino. As soon as Fox was through, he slammed the door and bolted it. Both cadets sniggered as they heard the telltale  _ clang! _ of another cadet not being able to stop fast enough and running into the door. 

“You  _ shabuire _ !” Kote barked from the other side of the door, muffled by the metal and gusts of wind blowing past the two outdoor cadets. “It’s cheating to get Doubles to help!”

“I didn’t get Doubles, I got Skip!” 

“Using Skipper’s cheating, too!”

Skip and Fox grinned deviously at each other. Picking on their batchmates was always fun, or at least until CC-6454 snitched to Prime. Then it was just annoying. 

CC-4118’s voice rang from behind the door, pitched higher than her brothers’ so that they could tell it was her. “Fox! Skipper! Open this door before I cave it in!”

The pair sighed, unbolting the door and letting it swing open to see their unimpressed sister holding Kote by the back of his blacks. “Sorry, Andromeda,” Skip muttered, and Fox kicked him unsubtly. “Ow! You bitch!”

Andi scowled at them both before it cracked into an amused smile. “I’d be angry at you if he didn’t deserve it for doing the same thing to Orion last tenday.”

Behind her, CC-9538— Orion— nodded, looking vindicated. 

“Orion does that to me all the time and you never say anything!” CC-3636 complained, throwing his arms up into the air. 

“Because you’re the batch baby, Wolf’ika,” CC-1022 pointed out with a smug grin.

“I am  _ not _ !”

“I’m sorry, I don’t listen to babies.” 

“You’re all  _ horrible _ !”

“Don’t worry, Wolffe,” Fox shooed away 1022, playfully growling at him and sending his batcher skittering towards Twenty-Two. “I’ll protect you from mean old Ten-Twenty-Two.”

“Rude!” 1022 sniffed over his shoulder, And Wolffe only huffed, burying himself in Fox’s side. “I can’t believe we’re related.”

“I can! You’re a bitch, I’m a bitch, Seventeen’s a bitch, Prime’s a bitch—”

“Alright, alright, enough!” CC-3092 waved his hand in front of Fox. “We get it, everyone in Bitch Batch and beyond is a bitch.”

“Doubles, you’re ruining it,” he complained, and he shrugged in return, unmoved by Fox’s petulant tone. 

Shaking his head, Fox broke away from his brothers and sister, jogging down one of the many catwalks and into a separate training room. One to run laps in. It was almost assured that CC-6454— Ponds— and Skipper would be off to the slicing modules, Andromeda, 1022 and Orion to piloting exercises, and then Kote, Doubles, Wolffe, and CC-5052— Bly— would be going for basic strength training. 

He’d expected to be running a while, with nobody else typically in the training room at this time. 

He  _ hadn’t _ expected to open the door, step in, and have another cadet almost immediately run straight into his chest.

“Oh my Manda I’m  _ so sorry _ are you okay I didn’t see you I’m sorry I didn’t mean to run into you like that—”

“Who,  _ vod’ika _ , take a breath.” Fox hadn’t been particularly thrown off balance, as this cadet was quite a bit lighter than Seventeen. He reached out to grab the cadet and steady him, though. “I’m not mad. You alright?”

The other cadet had to be about four-ish, if not younger, and he looked up at Fox with huge eyes. “I, I’m CC-7041,  _ ori’vod _ .”

“I’m CC-1010, Fox. Got a name yet?”

Abruptly, the cadet nodded, his face lighting up. “I’m Thorn!”

Fox blinked down at the little cadet, watching how he beamed up at the older as if he hadn’t a care in the world, and reached out to awkwardly pat him on the head. “ _ Su cuy’gar _ , Thorn.”

“ _ Su cuy’gar _ !” The younger backed away sheepishly, scuffing the toe of his boot on the ground as his smile faded and his expression became shy. “My twin said he’d meet me here, but he hasn’t shown up yet.”

“Twin, huh? I don’t have any twins in my batch, but I hear it’s pretty cool to have one.”

“It is! He’s really, really fun!”

Rubbing the back of his neck, Fox considered his options. Go back to what he was doing with Thorn undoubtedly staring at him, leave and let Thorn be alone, or… “I’ll keep ya company ‘til your twin shows up, alright?”

“Okay, Ori’fox!”

With that, he leaned against the wall, contenting himself with listening to the younger cadet ramble. 

“— and then he tripped over a rock and almost  _ died _ , it was so scary, but Alpha-4 pulled him up in time so he didn’t go over, isn’t he cool?”

“Absolutely,” he agreed. “The Alphas are all  _ really _ cool.”

“Not Alpha-17, though!” Little Thorn made a face. “Seventeen’s a meanie, I saw him push one of the older cadets over the railing.”

“That sounds like my batcher, Bly.” Fox cracked a smile at the moderately traumatizing memory. “He taught us to swim like that. I was maybe two when he threw me over, Bly got lucky since he was five at the time.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, me and my batchers were the first successful batch.” He shrugged, avoiding Thorn’s eyes as he tried to ignore the awed expression that usually accompanied that announcement. “We spend a lot of time with the Alphas and Prime. The Nulls are the ones you wanna watch out for, though. Real pieces of work.”

“Really? I don’t think I’ve met them yet…”

Mildly amused, Fox ruffled the cadet’s hair. “Trust me, you don’t want to.”

“Okay, Ori’fox.”

_ Thorn, huh? _ The cadet huffed out a small laugh, watching how Thorn looked abashed yet pleased at his reaction.  _ Cute little  _ shebs _. I’ll keep him. _

_ Present day… _

“Heads up, Boss!”

Fox neatly dodged out of the way of CT-4477’s thrown datapad, turning to smirk at the lieutenant as he threw his hands up in the air in frustration. “Thorn, you snitch!”

The offending snitch shrugged, palms up with a smug grin decorating his face. Then, he whacked the datapad-thrower over the head with a reg manual with “ _ Di’kut _ Smacker” written in bold ink on the cover, ignoring the shout of indignation he got for it. “That’s  _ Commander _ Thorn, to you, Lieutenant Thire. Careful, before I’m forced to punish you for insubordination.”

“Wha— Boss, are you hearing this!?”

“Hearing what?” The marshal commander smirked viciously, watching in satisfaction as Thire scrunched up his face in playful distaste. “Commander Stone, did you hear anything?”

“‘Course not, Boss,” CC-5869, better known as Stone, muttered in disinterested assent. “Is the lieutenant hearing things again? Maybe we should send him to Cross for an examination.”

“No!” Thire wailed pitifully, dramatically draping himself over Stone’s bunk. “Don’t send me to Cross! He’s still mad at me for spraining my wrist last week!”

“And whose fault was that, hm?” CT-1128, the only medic in the barracks at the moment, lifted his head from his pillow to glare at Thire. “Yours. You punched a  _ wall _ .”

“It was for a good cause, Sneeze!”

“I wasn’t aware not decking a senator was a good cause. Taa deserves it.”

“Of course he does, but he’d be decommissioned for it,” Fox pointed out mildly, adjusting his grip on his own datapad as he signed the requisition form Memory had sent him. Done for the day.  _ Finally _ . 

He dropped the datapad next to his armor, standing up so he could join Thorn on the dingy couch they had seized from a deathstick dealer’s drug den and repurposed for the barracks. It still kinda smelled like smoke, sometimes, but that was fine. His  _ vod’ika _ barely looked up from his own work, scowling in frustration. 

“General Yoda wants some shocktroopers to go to Rugosa with.”

“That’s under Toydarian control, right?”

“Yeah.” Thorn scowled heavily, then looked up at Thire. “Take Jek and Rys.”

“You want  _ me _ to deal with the senile frog-eater?”

“Don’t bring Ponds into this,” Fox countered, and hid a grin as the others laughed, tension lessening. “That’s what he said, isn’t it? Good luck,  _ vod’ika _ .”

It was just then that CC-5778, Chief Medical Officer Cross of the Coruscant Guard, deigned to enter the room, casting his unimpressed gaze about the barracks. “Thire. What’d you do  _ this _ time.” It wasn’t a question, at this point, and Fox had to hide a grin. 

“I didn’t do anything! Thorn’s sending me off to Ruggy-soup—”

“ _ Rugosa _ .”

“— with Jek and Rys!”

Cross took off his helmet so that the four commanding officers could see him roll his eyes. “You’ll survive, I’m sure. And if you don’t, you’re gonna deal with the  _ shebs _ beating of a lifetime. Got it?”

“Yessir,” Thire pouted, and the CMO pointedly ignored him in favor of regarding the three commanders. 

“How’s the ankle, Boss?” It was said so drily that it was almost funny, if Fox hadn’t broken it doing something as stupid as tripping down the stairs when he was trying to chase a senator’s tooka cat. 

“Fine, thank you.” He purposefully kept his words clipped, even as he leaned heavily on Thorn. Thorn, in return, huffed in protest, shifting his stance to adjust to the added weight of Fox. 

“We’ve got a visitor, Boss,” Thorn told him in a well-controlled voice, but Fox had known him for six years and could hear the undercurrent of amusement. “General Vos, come on in.”

The door slid open, revealing a Kiffar  _ Jetii _ , and Fox had to stifle a groan of malcontent. It had been all of four tendays since Geonosis, and he’d decided he hated Vos on day  _ one _ . The  _ Jetii _ had no respect for boundaries, and lacked even a basic sense of decorum. 

“Heya, Foxy!”

Case in point. 

Stone badly disguised a snigger as a cough, earning him a glare before Fox turned his ire to the General. “ _ Marshal Commander Fox _ , Sir, or CC-1010 if you find that too… difficult to remember.”

“I’m offended, Foxy! I’d never forget your name!” His dreadlocks bounced as he practically  _ skipped _ into the barracks, casting a cursory glance around the room before grinning again. “Commanders Thorn, Stone. Lieutenant Thire. CMO Cross. Junior Medic Sneeze.”

_ Shabuir _ was doing this on purpose. He  _ knew _ he was, and it was getting under his skin more effectively than a hypo. Still, he set his face into the porcelain mask he always wore around senators. “Very good, Sir.”

“Awww, don’t go and give me the cold shoulder, Foxy,” Vos complained, sprawling on the couch beside Fox and ignoring any definition of  _ personal bubble _ that had ever been invented as he threw an arm around the marshal commander’s shoulders. Fox growled under his breath, but didn’t shove him off. It was pointless, at this point. “You know you love me!”

“I don’t.”

“Somewhere in that dark, cold, prickly heart of yours—” Thire outright laughed, which only encouraged the  _ Jetii _ general more— “you have a little seed of affection for me, and I’m determined to make it grow into a beautiful tree!”

_ What if it grew into a blaster, and I shot you with it? _ He kept his mouth shut, but did his best to radiate annoyance.  _ Jetiise _ could sense emotions or something, so that would probably work.

Finally, Vos got the hint and pulled away. “I heard something about Master Yoda?”

“He has requested three shocktroopers,” Fox supplied tightly. “Lieutenant Thire will be taking two of Commander Thorn’s men with him to accompany General Yoda to Rugosa.”

“Rugosa?” He frowned, his hand coming up to idly trace the gold stripe across his cheeks and nose. “I’ve heard some things about Separatists trying to get an alliance with the Toydarian Empire. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a surprise or twenty waiting.”

That was worrying. “Thire, you hear that?”

“Yessir.”

Well, that was all he could hope for. More often than not it was in one ear and out the other with Thire. 

Cross scowled, his arms crossing over his chest as he glared at the lieutenant. “Don’t get killed by clankers like some frontliner. Understood?”

“Yessir.” Thire shrank under the gazes of the three commanders and singular general, then abruptly stood. “General Vos, sir, could you brief me on what you know about Rugosa?”

“Of course.” The _ Jetii _ followed Thire out of the barracks, and they were once again left in peace. 


End file.
